iEnter The Lion's Den
by tdrummer14
Summary: Freddie visits Sam's house for the first time.


**Hi everyone! I was working on a chapter for one of my other stories when this idea popped into my head. So I took a break from writing the chapter and started working on this story. Well here it is, finished and waiting to be read. I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly.**

iEnter The Lion's Den

Freddie Benson grumbled to himself as he sat on the Number 4 bus heading to his destination. He hated using public transportation. The bus was a place where the possibility of running into weirdoes was high. He used the bus transit system once before and had an encounter with a hobo. He was extremely dirty, had the smell of alcohol on his breath, and kept talking about how he could communicate with his foot fungus. After that, Freddie swore to himself that he would never use public transportation again. But with a friend like Sam Puckett, he had very little choice.

When he arrived home from school, he noticed that the homework assignment he completed during lunch period was missing. After completely searching his backpack, he called his friends about the whereabouts of his assignment. He learned that Sam stole his homework to copy off it. Then Freddie scolded Sam about it, but his words fell on apathetic ears. Not trusting Sam to remember to bring his assignment with her to school the next day, Freddie asked for the directions to her house.

So here he was, sitting on a bus heading in the direction of her house. He would have asked his mother for a ride, but she was still at work. Fortunately, he was the only passenger on the bus. A few people did get on and off the bus during his bus ride, but none of them acted out of the ordinary.

Freddie had never been to Sam's house before, so he was curious as to what the domain of his tormentor would look like. It was probably a small old house with faded wallpaper and a desperate need for a paint job. He even let his imagination run wild and pictured her house as either a dungeon full of torture devices or a withered old hut with shelves of bottled toadstools and a bubbling cauldron in the center.

The bus finally reached the stop that Sam mentioned and Freddie got off. He walked a short distance down the block and stopped right in front of a house with a mailbox that had the same numbers as the address Sam gave him. The house didn't look like much from the outside. It was just an average two-story house painted yellow with a few stairs that lead to a small porch and the front door. A little better than what he expected, but still nothing special.

Freddie took a deep breath and walked up the stairs and to the front door. He knocked on the door and waited patiently for someone to answer. A few seconds later, he heard the faint sound of approaching footsteps. The footsteps got louder and louder until they stopped at the doorway. Then the lock turned and the door opened.

There stood a woman who appeared to be in her late forties. She had short blonde hair and creamy white skin. But the most eye-catching aspect about the woman was that she was wearing a…..bikini? Her eyes were closed and she had a smile on her face.

"Hey there, hot stuff," said the woman. "So what do you think of this sexy Momma?" As she spoke, she gracefully waved her hands over her body to put emphasis on her skimpy attire.

Freddie's eyes were the size of dinner plates. He was in complete awe at the insane spectacle standing before him. His mind went completely numb to the point where he did not know what to do except stand there and gawk at this strange lady.

Sensing the absence of a response, the woman opened her eyes and focused her gaze on Freddie. Then her eyes became as big as Freddie's and the expression on her face was that of complete shock. The woman began to scream. As soon as she did, Freddie followed suit and began screaming himself. After a few seconds of mutual screaming and staring at each other, the woman quickly slammed the door shut. Freddie stopped screaming as soon as the door was closed. He stared at the door in a stunned silence, not moving from the spot that he stood in. He could not believe what he just saw. The image would live in his nightmares for a long time.

Just then, the door opened again. It was the woman from earlier, only this time she was wearing a lime green bathrobe.

"Sorry about that, kid. I thought you were my boyfriend coming to pick me up for my date. I wanted to surprise him with my new bathing suit." The woman raised her left hand to her head while she closed her eyes and slightly shook her head. "I should really get a peek hole for the door." She seemed to be talking more to herself than to Freddie. She turned her attention back to Freddie. "So what do you want?"

Having not completely recovered from the shock of their previous encounter, Freddie did his best to answer the woman. "Uh….does…Sam…Puckett…live…here?"

The woman crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him suspiciously. "Yes, she does. Who are you?"

Freddie's nerves steadied a bit now that he knew he was at the right place. "Uh…I go to school with Sam."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Are you her boyfriend?"

Freddie's eyes widened. "No! No, we are just friends. My name is Freddie Benson."

The woman's face formed a look of recognition. "So **you're** the nerd that Sam keeps talking about. Funny, you look pretty good for a nerd."

"Uh…thanks?"

"Sam's taking a shower right now. Come on in. You can wait for her in the living room." The woman pointed her head in the direction of the living room. Freddie stepped into the house and headed for the living room. The woman closed the door behind him. "I'm her mother, by the way. Name's Pam."

Remembering his manners, Freddie turned around to face Pam and stretched his open hand out to her. "Nice to meet you."

Pam didn't shake his hand. She just nodded her head at him. "I'll tell Sam you're here."

Pam walked out of the living room and headed up the stairs. Freddie took this opportunity to look around. The living room was actually not that bad. There was a couch in the middle of the room that had a pillow laying on each armrest. The couch was facing a small 17" TV which sat on a small stand. A round wooden coffee table stood between the couch and the TV. An oval-shaped rug was laid out underneath the coffee table. The rug was a little old, but looked clean overall. There was a small bookshelf against one of the living room walls. Instead of books, there were picture frames sitting on each shelf. Freddie walked over to the bookshelf and looked at the pictures.

They were photographs of Sam. Some of them were of Sam as a little girl and others showed Sam as the way she looked today. Sam was smiling in all of the pictures and striking funny poses in a few of them. Her mother was in some of the photos, grinning at the camera as she stood next to her daughter with her arm around Sam's shoulders. It was really heartwarming to look at and Freddie couldn't help but smile. It was refreshing to see a softer side of Sam Puckett in comparison to the rowdy and bullying side that he was familiar with.

There were a couple of things Freddie noticed as he looked at the pictures. The first thing was that three of the pictures had a side that wasn't straight, as if someone used a pair of scissors to cut off part of the pictures without using a ruler. Freddie guessed that the parts that were cut out were pictures of Sam's father. Sam never talked about her father with him and Carly. He did ask Sam about him once, but Sam just changed the subject. Freddie decided then and there to not ask Sam about her father anymore. It was no big deal that she didn't want to tell him. He understood. After all, he too was living without a father.

The second thing that Freddie noticed was Sam's outfit. In half of the pictures, Sam was wearing her usual tomboyish attire of jeans, plaid-patterned shirts, and converse sneakers. But in the other half, Sam was dressed in much girlier apparel which included skirts, pink-colored tops, and high heels. The girly Sam also had her hair tied back, giving her a more feminine look. Freddie was a little puzzled by this. He could not recall Sam ever dressing this girly. Maybe there was another side to Sam that he had yet to see.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Pam walking down the stairs. "Okay, I told Sam you are here. She'll be down in a moment."

Freddie nodded. "Okay. Thank you, Ms. Puckett."

Pam sneered at him. "Call me Pam. Ms. Puckett makes me sound old."

Freddie bit his lip, a little embarrassed about the unintentional insult. "Okay, Pam."

Pam smiled slightly. "Thank you."

Just then, a loud knocking was heard from the front door. Pam's smile widened. "That's probably my date. I'm going to go surprise him. Nice meeting you."

With that, Pam walked to the front door to greet her visitor. Freddie shuddered at the thought of Pam "surprising" her date. He did not need to have any more mental images of Sam's mother in a bikini. Thankfully, he could not see them from where he was. There was about a minute of conversation between Pam and her date that he could barely hear before he heard the unmistakable sound of the front door closing.

Happy that Pam and her date were gone, Freddie decided to just walk around the house to kill time. He didn't even take two steps before he heard a noise. The sound came from the stairwell which was at the other end of the living room. Thinking it was Sam, Freddie turned toward the sound to greet her. The words got caught in his throat as soon as he saw the source of the noise. It was not Sam. Freddie's heart began to race and goose bumps formed on his skin. What he saw was something truly terrifying.

Freddie was looking into the eyes of a beast. A beast in the form of a three-legged cat that answered to the name of Frothy.

Freddie had heard stories about this feline. He heard that many a mail carrier have walked to the Puckett residence to deliver the mail and have returned to their delivery truck with tore uniforms and scratches all over their bodies. Some of the mail carriers would rather be fired than deliver mail to the Pucketts. Freddie also heard that Sam's house used to have a rat problem until Frothy came along. This wouldn't be so frightening if it weren't for the fact that two neighborhood dogs went missing and Sam found their collars at the foot of Frothy's bed.

Freddie thought Sam made up those stories to scare him, but now that he was face to face with the feline, Freddie started to believe those stories. Judging by how the cat was looking at him, Freddie guessed that the cat saw him as an intruder. He thought that maybe talking to Frothy would show that he meant no harm.

"Um, hi there. You must be Frothy."

The cat just stared menacingly at Freddie. The terrified boy tried his best to keep his composure to avoid provoking the cat's wrath. "Uh, I'm Freddie. I am a friend of Sam's. Do you understand that? I'm a friiiieeeeend."

Apparently, the use of word elongation did not put the cat at ease. Frothy arched his back and let out a loud hiss. Startled by Frothy's reaction, Freddie quickly backed up a few steps. In his haste to keep his distance from Frothy, Freddie tripped on his own feet and stumbled to the floor. He sat up and looked at Frothy. The cat let out a feral meow and lunged at Freddie.

Oh chizz!

Freddie quickly got to his feet and started running. The angry cat landed on the spot that Freddie previously occupied and charged after his prey. Freddie ran toward the couch with Frothy nipping at his heels. Frothy chased Freddie around the couch a few times. Seeing that running around the couch was getting him nowhere, Freddie ran for the kitchen. He made it into the kitchen and slammed the door shut before the cat could get to him. He put his back against the door and slowly slid down it. He sat down on the floor, panting heavily. Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to relax. The muffled sounds of scratching and angry meowing could be heard through the door. Freddie quickly locked the door and pushed himself against the door to keep the cat from getting in. Although it seemed impossible for the cat to know how to open a door, he was not taking any chances. Along with the scratching and yowling, there was a loud pounding sound. It was as if Frothy was trying to ram down the door. How a three-legged cat could pull that off, Freddie didn't know. At this point, he didn't even care. All that mattered was keeping that demonic cat at bay.

Then the sounds stopped. Freddie put his ear to the door and listened. Nothing. No scratches, savage meowing, or loud pounding. It appears that Frothy gave up his pursuit. Freddie leaned his head against the door, closed his eyes, and let out a deep breath. He silently thanked the man upstairs for saving his skin. He slowly opened his eyes. The layout of the kitchen came into view. It was not a bad kitchen. There were wooden cabinets, a two-door fridge, an exit to the hallway, a tile countertop….wait a minute.

Freddie turned his attention back to the exit to the hallway. His eyes widened with fear and he began to sweat. It occurred to him that Frothy didn't stop scratching the door because he gave up the chase. He stopped scratching because he was heading for the other entrance into the kitchen. Sure enough the second he realized this, Frothy walked right into the kitchen from the hallway. As soon as he saw Freddie, Frothy slowly crept up to the boy with the intent of going in for the kill.

Freddie quickly stood up and tried to open the door. But the doorknob wouldn't twist. He tried pushing the door open, but it wouldn't budge. Freddie turned around to face the cat. He was trapped. The feline had him cornered. Freddie pressed his back against the door, helpless to do anything. Frothy stopped a few feet in front of him and crouched down to the floor. He was about to pounce! Freddie closed his eyes and awaited his impending doom. Frothy bared his claws and teeth, let out a ferocious yowl, and began to lunge.

"Frothy, sit!"

As soon as he heard the command, Frothy halted his attack and sat down on the floor like an obedient dog. Aware of the sudden change of events, Freddie slowly opened his eyes. Behind the sitting feline stood Sam, dressed up in a purple bathrobe and gray sweatpants. She walked over to Frothy and scooped him up in her arms. She stroked the cat's head. "That's a good kitty," said Sam in that tone of voice that people use on their pets. Frothy closed his eyes and started purring.

Then Sam looked at the scared boy who was still sitting against the door. "Hello Freddoof. I see you've met Frothy."

Freddie looked nervously at the purring cat, then at the blonde holding him. "If by 'met', you mean he almost tore me to pieces, then yes we have met!"

"He's like that to everyone. He only listens to me and my mom."

Freddie stood up from the door. "Yeah, I can see that."

"You're actually quite lucky," said Sam as she continued petting Frothy. "You're the first visitor to not get clawed into a bloody mess. I should have taken my time to come to your rescue."

Freddie shot her an angry look. "Hey!"

Sam smirked. "Just kidding. No need to get bent out of shape."

Freddie glared at Sam for a bit, but dropped the look after deciding it was pointless to argue with her. He got down to business. "Anyway, where's my homework?"

"Your homework is upstairs in my bedroom. I'll take you there."

Freddie nodded. "Okay. Thanks."

"We'll have to go through the hallway. That kitchen door has problems with the lock. It locks as soon as the door is closed and you can't unlock it by hand. You need a key."

So that's why he couldn't get the door open! Freddie took a deep breath and followed the blonde out of the kitchen. They walked down the hallway and reached the foot of the stairwell. As they walked up the stairs, Sam turned her head to Freddie.

"You know, you should cherish this moment. This will be the only time a girl asks you to come upstairs to her room."

Freddie's face turned a shade of red. "Do you really have to put it **that** way?"

Sam smiled. "Anything to make you squirm."

As soon as they reached the second floor, Sam led Freddie to her bedroom door. She stood to the side of the door. "Well, here we are. Go on in. Your homework's in my backpack on the desk chair."

Freddie opened the door and was about to walk inside when the sight before him stopped him in his tracks. Sam's room was a complete mess. There were so many clothes sprawled out all over the floor that the floor itself was barely visible. The trash can in the room was over flowing with crumbled paper and empty fat cake wrappers. Sam's desk was littered with crushed soda cans and dirty socks were hanging from the desk chair along with her backpack. Her bed was unmade and there were candy wrappers scattered around the covers.

"Dude! Don't you ever clean your room?" said Freddie still staring at the mess.

Sam shook her head. "Nah. That takes effort."

"Sam, I am not going in there! It looks like a hurricane attacked your room!"

"Oh yeah. I forgot you're a neat freak. Well in that case, I'm not going to help you get your homework. You have to go in there and get it yourself."

Freddie looked at Sam in utter disbelief. "You can't be serious! You're making me walk into that disaster zone just for your own entertainment?"

Sam smirked at him. "You know me like the back of your hand."

Freddie gave her an annoyed glare before letting out a frustrated groan and stepping into her room. It was difficult to find a part of the floor to step on, so Freddie just took each step carefully to avoid getting his feet stuck in the clothes piles. Sam watched with total amusement as Freddie struggled to walk through her room. "You may want to watch where you step. Somewhere on that floor is a bologna sandwich I have not seen in three days."

Freddie cringed. "Gross! That is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard!"

"You think that's bad? You should have been here when I lost a block of limburger in here for six weeks."

Freddie turned a shade of green. "I stand corrected." Freddie continued to tread his way through the clothes piles until he reached Sam's backpack. He unzipped the bag, reached inside, and took out his homework. Now he had to make the trek back to the bedroom door. He made it a few steps before tripping over a sneaker and falling face first into the clothes. Sam would have buckled over in laughter, but she kept herself from doing that to avoid dropping Frothy. Freddie lifted his head from the floor and pushed himself to his feet. He walked the rest of the way to the door with as much dignity as he could muster. As soon as he reached the doorway, he stopped to look at the smirking blonde and her equally amused cat.

"Thanks for letting me humiliate myself just to get my homework," Freddie said with heavy sarcasm.

"You're welcome, and thanks for helping me find my sandwich."

Freddie looked at Sam confused. Sam pointed at his chest. Freddie looked down to where she was pointing. Half of Sam's three-day-old bologna sandwich was stuck to Freddie's shirt. The bologna slices were clinging to his shirt with the help of some mustard and a smashed tomato slice. The bread was sticky and had a few splotches of mold growing on it.

It was at that point that Freddie finally couldn't stand it. "Okay, that's it! I'm out of here!"

He walked past Sam and headed downstairs, not bothering to remove the sandwich from his shirt. Sam walked after him. "Oh come on. You're leaving already?"

"I'm sorry Sam, but I've stayed in this nuthouse long enough!"

Freddie reached the foot of the stairs and quickly walked down the hallway to the front door. Sam quickened her pace to keep up with him. "But I didn't even show you the attic yet. There's stuff in there that's bound to warp your little pea-sized mind."

Freddie opened the door and turned to look at Sam. "No thanks. I've had my fill of this place. Right now, I just want to go home and get cleaned up."

Freddie turned back around and walked out the door and down the porch steps. Sam remained at the doorway. "So there's no chance of you coming back to complete the tour?" she called.

"Not even if you paid me!" Freddie called back as he headed down the block toward the bus stop.

Sam shrugged. "Okay then. See you at school, nub."

Freddie waved his hand in her direction without looking back. "See you tomorrow."

Sam watched Freddie walk down the block until he was out of sight. A slight smile formed on her face as she stared at the spot where he disappeared to. Then Sam turned her attention to Frothy in her arms.

"He'll be back." Sam told the cat as she stroked his head. Frothy purred in reply. Then Sam walked back into her house and shut the door.

The End

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><p><strong>AN: So what did you think? I hope you enjoyed it. Please review.<strong>


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